Struck by Lightning while under way

I imagine that if you live in the lightning capital
of the world, itS unavoidable. Sooner or later the boat will
be hit by lightning. However, usually it occurs when no one is on
board. I should be so lucky. In our case, we had a front row seat
as we were hit by lightning on what began as a perfect sailing afternoon.
Southwinds, a sailing magazine, recently featured an article on
lightning strikes and boats in their June 2009 issue, and mentioned
my experience in their story.

Afternoon storms are as regular as clockwork in
summer months in central Florida. For that reason I usually leave
the dock just as offshore winds are building in mid morning and
try and be back in our slip before the storms hit. One Saturday,
household chores delayed the departure and I didn't motor out
of the marina until almost noon. Inevitably clouds began building
a couple of hours later, and unfortunately for us, a monster storm
cell formed just offshore of Cape Canaveral, FL. I watched it build
into rolling jet black clouds and it wasn't long after that
lightning bolts could be seen hitting the water all around the perimeter
of the storm cell. What was even worse was it was heading our way.

I gave up trying to avoid the storm and immediately shortened
sail. Within 15 minutes wind gusts were at 25 -30 knots, and the
clouds black as night. I made the decision to strike the sails,
and battened everything down, started the twin diesels and put our
bow into the wind. We waited, which was the hardest part as lightning
strikes were increasing as the storm cell came closer and we watch
this macabre show come closer and closer as the thunder claps became
deafening.

It wasn't long before the full fury of this
storm cell hit Catalpa. Winds gusted to 60 knots with driving rain
that hit with the force of hail. I don't have a windscreen on
Catalpa and found it near impossible to keep my head up. It was
more comfortable for me to duck down behind the helm bulkhead
and let the wind and rain roar over my head. Lightning bolts were
hitting the water all around us by this time. It was like we
sailed into an artillery barrage with the bright lightning strikes followed immediately by that deafening clap of thunder happening about once every 2 seconds as this violent storm cell seemed to swallow the boat.

The Admiral was in the saloon until
a close miss made her head for me in the cockpit. We were about
ten minutes into this when there was a very loud crack. When this bang
occurred I had my head down avoiding horizontal rain ...
I heard it, but didn't see it. . I looked up just in time to
see our masthead tricolor light hit the water 25 feet off the starboard
stern followed by a shower of melted masthead fittings hitting both
of us in the head and arms. I immediately realized what had happened.
We had been struck by lightning and we were still alive. I looked
up and couldn't believe what I saw. Everything on top of my
mast had been blown off the boat. My masthead was clean.

Before the Lightning hit

After the Lightning hit

I didn't think it possible but the wind was growing
even stronger. With boat engines at max RPM, Catalpa was no longer
making headway and in fact, according to the handheld GPS, was being
pushed backward. There was no choice but to put the helm over
and run with the storm while picking bits and pieces of mast fittings
of our hair at the same time. So much for my storm boat management
technique. This is exactly what I had been taught not to do, but
there were no other options. We hung on for dear life, and eventually the fury of the storm decreased as the storm cell moved away.

The admiral had been holding on to me so tight she left marks which took a while to fade. When I finally managed to stand up without the wind blowing me over I immediately checked the boat for damage. Thankfully, a quick check showed we were seaworthy.... The engines were still running and we weren't taking on water. In this case we dodged a bullet as
the storm moved on within 30 minutes leaving us to reflect on our
good fortune. I set our course back towards the marina.

After
arriving safely in our slip, it was time to determine the extent
of the damage. I was fortunate that Catalac Catamarans with inboard
diesels apparently have a natural path for the electricity to follow.
There was no boat hull or structural damage at all. All of my circuit
breakers had tripped. When I dropped the electrical panel to take
a look, I discovered that every breaker was covered in black carbon.
The high voltage charge had 'jumped' every breaker. In other
words the circuit breakers were in fact no protection at all against
lightning strikes. Through Hulls, rigging and hull were intact,
However, on board electronics were another matter entirely. This
was a disaster:

Onboard Electric / Electronics Destroyed
by lightning

On board stereo

VHF radio

mast mounted VHF antenna

mast DC wiring

Masthead Tricolor

Mast mounted running lamp

Spreader lights

Solar panel charge controller

blown diode in Siemans 75 watt solar panel

Windex

A/C inverter (in port hull)

4 Fluorescent light fixtures

Battery charger (in port hull)

Engine Starter (in port hull)

Alternator (in port hull)

Port Yanmar engine panel

automatic Rule bilge pumps (both hulls)

2 deep cycle batteries

What is interesting is what wasn't
damaged. Two cell phones we had on the saloon table were unaffected
as was a Canon Digital Rebel camera and a hand held GPS. Each item
was operating at the time. In other words, anything that was connected
to the boatS DC wiring was fried and anything portable was
unaffected. Keep this in mind when you think you need to install
expensive electronics. I'm devising a method of disconnecting
valuable equipment should this situation arise again. Apparently
if its not connected to DC wiring, you have a good chance the
equipment will survive a lightning strike.

I had a lot of
help with the repairs. Steve Ramsey (Catalac 8M S/V Kelly Ann) was
generous with his time and in lending me his mast lowering pole.
We unstepped the mast and completely rewired it with DC wiring and
new low loss VHF coax. In addition we mounted:

a new anchor light

Shakespear VHF radio antenna

RG-6 coax

steaming light

windex

spreader lights

deck mounted electrical and coax connectors

All of this was accomplished in just one afternoon.
I'm now a huge fan of tabernacles and deck stepped masts in
general. We were able to lower the mast onto solid ground which
allowed the mast repairs to proceed quickly and safely.

There is a controversy on installing lightning protection systems
on boats. I have none, Lightning entered the boat upon striking
the top of my mast and seemed to follow the boats DC wiring before
exiting the boat through the propeller shafts of the twin diesel
inboard engines. Neither of us even felt so much as a tingle of
electricity even though we were barefoot and soaking wet.

As for the other equipment lost? As of this writing, most has
been replaced. I actually improved the radio situation. Look at
the radio marine electronics
cabinet page to see what I came up with.

As you can imagine,
this was an expensive lesson but at least we are safe and the boat
is brand new from mast tip to deck. I have to wonder what the outcome
would have been had Catalpa been equipped with new diesel engines
with electronic engine controls. I'm certain the electronics
would have been fried along with everything else connected to 12
volts DC. But would the engines still run? Also this completely
ended an idea I had in the back of my mind for sometime about going
with a total electric drive. Electronic Drive Controllers would
have been toasted crispy and at a minimum, that would have been
an even more expensive afternoon.

As an aside.... we no longer
sail on sunny summer afternoons in Florida.